The effect of mere altitude in the distribution of the flora was long ago emphasized by Friedrich Junghuhn, the Humboldt of Java, who divided the island into four vertical botanical zones--a division which has generally been accepted by his successors, though, like all such divisions, it is subject to many modifications and exceptions. The forest, or hot zone, extends to a height of 2000 ft. above the sea; the second, that of moderate heat, has its upper limit at about 4500; the third, or cool, zone reaches 7500; and the fourth, or coldest, comprises all that lies beyond. The lowest zone has, of course, the most extensive area; the second is only a fiftieth and the third a five-thousandth of the first; and the fourth is an insignificant remainder. The lowest is the region of the true tropical forest, of rice-fields and sugar-plantations, of coco-nut palms, cotton, sesamum, cinnamon and tobacco (though this last has a wide altitudinal range). Many parts of the coast (especially on the north) are fringed with mangrove (_Rhizophora mucronata_), &c., and species of _Bruguiera_; the downs have their characteristic flora--convolvulus and _Spinifex squarrosus_ catching the eye for very different reasons. Farther inland along the seaboard appear the nipa dwarf palm (_Nipa fruticans_), the _Alsbonia scholaris_ (the wood of which is lighter than cork), Cycadacea, tree-ferns, screw pines (_Pandanus_), &c. In west Java the gebang palm (_Corypha gebanga_) grows in clumps and belts not far from but never quite close to the coast; and in east Java a similar position is occupied by the lontar (_Borassus flabelliformis_), valuable for its timber, its sago and its sugar, and in former times for its leaves, which were used as a writing-material. The fresh-water lakes and ponds of this region are richly covered with Utricularia and various kinds of lotus (_Nymphaea lotus_, _N. stellata_, _Nelumbium speciosum_, &c.) interspersed with _Pista stratiotes_ and other floating plants. Vast prairies are covered with the silvery alang-alang grass broken by bamboo thickets, clusters of trees and shrubs (_Butea frondosa_, _Emblica officinalis_, &c.) and islands of the taller erigedeh or glagah (_Saccharum spontaneum_). Alang-alang (_Imperata arundinacea_, Cyr. var. Bentham) grows from 1 to 4 ft. in height. It springs up wherever the ground is cleared of trees and is a perfect plague to the cultivator. It cannot hold its own, however, with the ananas, the kratok (_Phaseolus lunatus_) or the lantana; and, in the natural progress of events, the forest resumes its sway except where the natives encourage the young growth of the grass by annually setting the prairies on fire. The true forest, which occupies a great part of this region, changes its character as we proceed from west to east. In west Java it is a dense rain-forest in which the struggle of existence is maintained at high pressure by a host of lofty trees and parasitic plants in bewildering profusion. The preponderance of certain types is remarkable. Thus of the Moraceae there are in Java (and mostly here) seven genera with ninety-five species, eighty-three of which are _Ficus_ (see S. H. Koorders and T. Valeton, "Boomsoorten op Java" in _Bijdr. Mede. Dep. Landbower_ (1906). These include the so-called waringin, several kinds of figs planted as shade-trees in the parks of the nobles and officials. The Magnoliaceae and Anonaceae are both numerously represented. In middle Java the variety of trees is less, a large area being occupied by teak. In eastern Java the character of the forest is mainly determined by the abundance of the Casuarina or Chimoro (_C. montana_ and _C. Junghuhniana_). Another species, _C. equisetifolia_, is planted in west Java as an ornamental tree. These trees are not crowded together and encumbered with the heavy parasitic growths of the rain-forest; but their tall stems are often covered with multitudes of small vermilion fungi. Wherever the local climate has sufficient humidity, the true rain-forest claims its own. The second of Junghuhn's zones is the region of, more especially, tea, cinchona and coffee plantations, of maize and the sugar palm (areng). In the forest the trees are richly clad with ferns and enormous fungi; there is a profusion of underwood (_Pavetta macrophylla Javanica_ and _salicifolia_; several species of _Lasianthus_, _Boehmarias_, _Strobilanthus_, &c.), of woody lianas and ratans, of tree ferns (especially Alsophila). Between the bushes the ground is covered with ferns, lycopods, tradescantias, Bignoniaceae, species of _Aeschynanthus_. Of the lianas the largest is _Plectocomia elongata_; one specimen of which was found to have a length of nearly 790 ft. One of the fungi, _Telephora princeps_, is more than a yard in diameter. The trees are of different species from those of the hot zone even when belonging to the same genus; and new types appear mostly in limited areas. The third zone, which consists mainly of the upper slopes of volcanic mountains, but also comprises several plateaus (the Dieng, parts of the Tengger, the Ijen) is a region of clouds and mists. There are a considerable number of lakes and swamps in several parts of the region, and these have a luxuriant environment of grasses, Cyperaceae, Characeae and similar forms. The taller trees of the region--oaks, chestnuts, various Lauraceae, and four or five species of _Podocarpus_--with some striking exceptions, _Astronia spectabilis_, &c., are less floriferous than those of the lower zones; but the shrubs (_Rhododendron javanicum_, _Ardisia javanica_, &c.), herbs and parasites more than make up for this defect. There is little cultivation, except in the Tengger, where the natives grow maize, rye and tobacco, and various European vegetables (cabbage, potatoes, &c.), with which they supply the lowland markets. In western Java one of the most striking features of the upper parts of this temperate region is what Schimper calls the "absolute dominion of mosses," associated with the "elfin forest," as he quaintly calls it, a perfect tangle of "low, thick, oblique or even horizontal stems," almost choked to leaflessness by their grey and ghostly burden. Much of the lower vegetation begins to have a European aspect; violets, primulas, thalictrums, ranunculus, vacciniums, equisetums, rhododendrons (_Rhod. retusum_). The _Primula imperialis_, found only on the Pangerango, is a handsome species, prized by specialists. In the fourth or alpine zone occur such distinctly European forms as _Artemisia vulgaris_, _Plantago major_, _Solanum nigrum_, _Stellaria media_; and altogether the alpine flora contains representatives of no fewer than thirty-three families. A characteristic shrub is _Anaphalis javanica_, popularly called the Javanese edelweiss, which "often entirely excludes all other woody plants."[11] The tallest and noblest of all the trees in the island is the rasamala or liquid-ambar (_Altingia excelsa_), which, rising with a straight clean trunk, sometimes 6 ft. in diameter at the base, to a height of 100 to 130 ft., spreads out into a magnificent crown of branches and foliage. When by chance a climbing plant has joined partnership with it, the combination of blossoms at the top is one of the finest colour effects of the forest. The rasamala, however, occurs only in the Preanger and in the neighbouring parts of Bantam and Buitenzorg. Of the other trees that may be classified as timber--from 300 to 400 species--many attain noble proportions. It is sufficient to mention _Calophyllum inophyllum_, which forms fine woods in the south of Bantam, _Mimusops acuminata_, _Irna glabra_, _Dalbergia latifolia_ (sun wood, English black-wood) in middle and east Java; the rare but splendid _Pithecolobium Junghuhnianum_; _Schima Noronhae_, _Bischofia javanica_, _Pterospermum javanicum_ (greatly prized for ship-building), and the upas-tree. From the economic point of view all these hundreds of trees are of less importance than _Tectona grandis_, the jati or teak, which, almost to the exclusion of all others, occupies about a third of the government forest-lands. It grows best in middle and eastern Java, preferring the comparatively dry and hot climate of the plains and lower hills to a height of about 2000 ft. above the sea, and thriving best in more or less calciferous soils. In June it sheds its leaves and begins to bud again in October. Full-grown trees reach a height of 100 to 150 ft. In 1895 teak (with a very limited quantity of other timber) was felled to the value of about £101,800, and in 1904 the corresponding figure was about £119,935. Entry: JAVA
ECHINODERMA EDESSA (Macedonia) ECHINUS EDESSA (Mesopotamia) ECHIUROIDEA EDFU ECHMIADZIN EDGAR (king of the English) ECHO EDGAR (son of Edward) ECHTERNACH EDGECUMBE ECHUCA EDGE HILL ÉCIJA EDGEWORTH, MARIA ECK, JOHANN MAIER EDGEWORTH, RICHARD LOVELL ECKERMANN, JOHANN PETER EDGEWORTH DE FIRMONT, HENRY ESSEX ECKERNFÖRDE EDGREN-LEFFLER, ANNE CHARLOTTE ECKERSBERG, KRISTOFFER EDHEM PASHA ECKHART, JOHANNES EDICT ECKHEL, JOSEPH HILARIUS EDINBURGH ECKMÜHL EDINBURGHSHIRE ECLECTICISM EDISON, THOMAS ALVA ECLIPSE EDMONTON (Alberta, Canada) ECLIPTIC EDMONTON (England) ECLOGITE EDMUND, SAINT ECLOGUE EDMUND (king of East Anglia) ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY EDMUND I. ECONOMICS EDMUND (Ironside) ECONOMY (Pennsylvania, U.S.A.) EDMUND (king of Sicily) ECONOMY EDMUNDS, GEORGE FRANKLIN ECSTASY EDOM ECTOSPORA EDRED ECUADOR EDRIC, STREONA ECZEMA EDUCATION EDAM EDWARD (The Elder) EDDA EDWARD (The Martyr) EDDIUS EDWARD (The Confessor) EDELINCK, GERARD EDWARD I. EDELWEISS EDWARD II. EDEN, SIR ASHLEY EDWARD III. EDEN EDWARD IV. EDENBRIDGE EDWARD V. EDEN HALL, LUCK OF EDWARD VI. EDENKOBEN EDWARD VII. EDENTATA EDWARD (prince of Wales) EDENTON Entry: ECHINODERMA